big pharma

The Scientific Method and Psychiatry

Psychiatry: Claims to be a science.

In talking to people in general, the feeling is that for the most part psychiatry is benign. The understood purpose is to help people that are dealing with anything from ADHD to Depression to Psychosis.

Automobile Seat Belts - An Analogy

Normally, when one sets out to fix something, they would measure adequately to know if the results warranted continuing.

The Problem:

For example, let’s take car fatalities. Years ago, in the 1950s and 1960s, seatbelts were not mandatory. A lot of people were severely injured or died as a result.

The Results:

In 1968 seat belts were made mandatory for all cars in the USA. From there, mandatory use followed in all states and Canada. Took a few years but….

Resulting Statistics:

Here is a reference from the Journal of The Royal Society of Medicine showing the before and after statistics of injuries and deaths with respect to seatbelts:

“The number of those who escaped injury increased by 40% and those with mild and moderate injuries decreased by 35% after seatbelt legislation. There was a significant reduction in soft tissue injuries to the head.”February 1990"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1292501/

A 40% reduction in deaths is a significant reason to continue to enforce the use of seat belts.

What about Big Pharma and Psychiatry

Big Pharma and the psychiatric industry market depression drugs like Zoloft, Lexapro, Prozac and Cymbalta which if you think about it, should result in far few people being depressed. The result of that would be fewer suicides. One would think.

The problem with the psychiatric industry is that the ‘solutions’ they use mask or bury the problem. An active child that the parents don’t have time for: put him on a drug that quiets him. Turns him or her (usually him) into a zombie and mom and dad who don’t really have time to deal with the noise of their child, are happy because said child is quiet and not in their hair. Thus, Mom and Dad are convinced of the success of the drug.

Here is how it should work. There is such as thing as the Scientific Method. It is the logical, agreed upon procedure for figuring ‘stuff’ out.

Some definitions:

Science:(Definition) A fact in science is when some happens the same every time in the same set of circumstances. (definition.org)

Science: (Definition): a branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged and showing the operation of general laws.

Science(Definition): The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment. Oxford Dictionary

So, we want facts and truths. Simple, right?

The Scientific Method:

The steps of the scientific method go something like this:

1. Make an observation or observations.2. Ask questions about the observations and gather information.3. Form a hypothesis — a tentative description of what's been observed, and make predictions based on that hypothesis.4. Test the hypothesis and predictions in an experiment that can be reproduced.5. Analyze the data and draw conclusions; accept or reject the hypothesis or modify the hypothesis if necessary.6. Reproduce the experiment until there are no discrepancies between observations and theory. "Replication of methods and results is my favorite step in the scientific method," Moshe Pritsker, a former post-doctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School and CEO of JoVE, told Live Science. "The reproducibility of published experiments is the foundation of science. No reproducibility – no science.”

Insulated Winter Boots - Another Analogy

If one were running a business; let’s say making high quality insulated winter boots. If they kept people feet warm, they would be successful. If 80% of the time, they did not keep people’s feet warm, it is very likely that people would stop buying them.

So, using this analogy, let’s say the marketing was good but as time went on more and more people were using these ‘wonder boots’. But more and more people were walking about with freezing feet and getting frostbite and worse but the boot people marketing would just tell them they need more of these boots. A second pair or change to another pair of boots that are also not properly insulated but, what the hell, we are making a bundle of money, so who cares. Then the boot manufacturers lobby the government representatives and get laws passed that enforce people to wear these boots. They get papers written on how effective these boots are.

People still have cold feet. So, now they convince the people with cold feet that it is their problem and not a problem with the boots. Tell them how they are mentally blocking their feet from getting warm.

Not very good Scientific Method. The solution would be to make a boot that worked. Use that method to actually make a boot that kept your feet warm.

So, what of the Pharmaceutical Industry and psychiatry. One would assume they have done adequate testing on their drugs and various techniques and procedures. Maybe, maybe not.

Let us take depression stats as example. Psychiatry and Big Pharma have been pushing this one hard for a number of years and pumping various anti-depression drugs into their US the rest of the world for years now.

These drugs are supposed to make things better. But, if I’m to line up these two preceding facts, I should get a bit worried. The rate of suicides follows the rate of increased use of anti-depressants.

And from same article, Dr Timimi shows more of the total lack of Scientific Method. Giving the example of ADHD he clearly points out that diagnosing this so called disease has absolutely nothing to do with science:

“Consider the following example: If I were to ask the question “what is ADHD?” it is not possible for me to answer that question by reference to a particular known pathological abnormality. Instead I will have to provide a description, such as ADHD is the presence of the behaviours of hyperactivity, impulsivity, and poor attention (plus a few extra qualifiers such as age of onset). Contrast this with asking the question “what is diabetes?” If I were to answer this question in the same manner by just describing symptoms such as needing to urinate excessively, thirst and fatigue, I could be in deep trouble as a medical practitioner as there are plenty of other conditions that may initially present with these symptoms and diabetes itself may not present with these symptoms in a recognizable way. In order to answer the question “what is diabetes?” I have to refer to its pathology involving abnormalities of sugar metabolism. I would get independent (to my subjective opinion) empirical data to support my hypothesis about what may be causing the patient’s described experiences (such as testing the urine and/or blood for levels of glucose). In the rest of medicine, therefore, my diagnosis explains and has some causal connection with the behaviours/symptoms that are described. Diagnosis in that context sits in a ‘technical’ explanatory framework. In psychiatry, what we are calling diagnosis (such as ADHD) will only describe but is unable to explain”.

This is only one example, where, in psychiatry there is no standard response or technique. There is no Scientific Method applied to issues like depression or ADHD. If it was applied then it would follow that there would be fewer and fewer people depressed and fewer and fewer suicides. But the opposite is happening. Make it as complicated as you want. All of the obfuscation in the world doesn’t change the fact that these drugs are making things worse.

When confronted with information like above, a Big Pharma representative will likely tell you “…it is more complicated than that…”. They will try and ‘baffle you with bullshit’. Answers are generally simple. Even for big issues. It is not really complicated.

If you are applying a solution to a problem and that problem gets worse, then stop for god’s sake! Big Pharma and the psychiatric industry are driving the suicide rate out the roof.

A real test would be to stop feeding people drugs like Prozac, Ritalin and Zoloft and watch depression and suicides plummet.

I'm tempted to copy and paste this whole article as I want it to be here as permanently as possible. I'm amazed that this one has been up a whole week already. These evil men and women from Big Pharma create more havoc and strife and grief on the American people in a month than all the terrorists in history put together. The death toll is staggering.

Almost 60,000 children in the USA alone visit emergency hospital rooms each year due to accidental overdoses. (promises.com) The information on this website is largely taken from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)How many children die or don't bother going? Child gun accidents and injuries are nowhere close to this. You never hear the end of it if a child gets injured by a gun but if 100 die or are injured by 'accidental' overdose it is never reported. Why? Why not? Misdirection maybe.

Try and hold Big Pharma accountable...No Way!! They are making far too much money and spread it around in the right places. This is an decent article on the corrupt system and how Big Pharma controls the media and pretty much controls and influences how the American people think.

"According to a 2009 study by Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, with the exception of CBS every major media outlet in the United States shares at least one board member with at least one drug company. Let me put it in perspective for you, these board members wake up, they go to a meeting at Merck or Pfizer, and then they have their driver take them over to a meeting with NBC to decide what kind of programming that network is going to air. For those board members who aren’t pulling double duty with a media conglomerate and a big drug company, they still understand that they can’t be honest and objective about big pharma because big pharma pays their bills." (...more here)

It sometimes amazes me how people get conned by all this. Then I think how constantly overwhelming and insidious it is. If you don't believe that you are somewhat 'brainwashed' by the media, try something:

Go for one month:

Don't watch any news or ads on TV. That will be nigh impossible for sports fans.

No news on the radio.

Refuse to click on any news item on Facebook or any other social media.

Don't even look at a newspaper. Unless it is to do the crossword puzzle or sudoku.

Magazines - well, if you read one, you are going to see ads from Big Pharma.

I doubt one in a hundred people could do this for a month but if you can...then see if your view on life is any different. Anyone that I have encountered that has done this has become a much more alive and less depressed person.

There was a book written years ago called 1984 by George Orwell. Many people know the phrase "Big Brother". That is the book that it came from. I found the book kind of dry but prophetic nonetheless. The whole idea of books like this and Huxley's 'Brave New World' were to predict and warn against such a dark future and hopefully prevent it from happening. No such luck. Maybe we could be calling Big Pharma 'Big Brother' instead.

“Until they became conscious they will never rebel, and until after they have rebelled they cannot become conscious.” from George Orwell's 1984

False. Actually the FDA only reviews studies that were designed, administered, secretly performed and paid for by the multinational profit-driven drug companies. The studies are frequently farmed out by the pharmaceutical companies by well-paid research firms, in whose interest it is to find positive results for their corporate employers. Unsurprisingly, such research policies virtually guarantee fraudulent results."

I grew up in the 50s and 60s. There is no lack of evidence that education was considerably better then than it is now. Even then, it was almost scary how literate my father’s generation was compared to ours at the time.

There are many ways to destroy a culture. I remember mentioning to some friends way back when through the 60s and 70s that the best way to do it would be a two pronged attack. If one wanted to control a population, that people had to be dulled, dumbed down. Uneducated. It had to be done in increments and would be much easier if the senses were dulled.

Thus came the glorious advent of drugs in the 60s. Not that drug use was not around before that but illegal drugs particularly were marketed in such a way to become quite acceptable. And the more the senses were dulled, the easier it was to keep reducing the effectiveness of the education system.

I watch young people in retail outlets now that do not know how to count out change to a customer. And this is a majority. If the register does not tell them how much to give back they are lost. If a customer gives them a little extra change so the cashier can round out the change to a dollar or a fiver then there eyes glaze over blankly. I DO NOT blame these young people. They have been unfortunate enough to go through an education system that was stripped of many basic and useful tools. Like the basics of math.

I’m pretty sure that addition and times tables are not done anymore. Back in the 50s and 60s we drilled these until we could do them in our sleep. It is the ONLY way to learn this. One must know tables like this by rote. Just learning the theory of how is useless if one one does not know the tables cold.

“The following examples may help to clarify the difference between the new and old math.

1960: A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of this price. What is his profit?

1970 (Traditional math): A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80. What is his profit?

1975 (New Math): A logger exchanges a set L of lumber for a set M of money. The cardinality of set M is 100 and each element is worth $1.

(a) make 100 dots representing the elements of the set M

(b) The set C representing costs of production contains 20 fewer points than set M. Represent the set C as a subset of the set M.

(c) What is the cardinality of the set P of profits?

1990 (Dumbed-down math): A logger sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is $80 and his profit is $20. Underline the number 20.

1997 (Whole Math): By cutting down a forest full of beautiful trees, a logger makes $20.

(a) What do you think of this way of making money?

(b) How did the forest birds and squirrels feel?

(c) Draw a picture of the forest as you'd like it to look.”

When you are cashing out at the end of a busy day ‘how one feels’ about the money doesn’t help one at all. Knowing that 10 dimes add up to a dollar might.

But after the 60s young people questioned what they were given/told in school less and less. I remember meeting an ex-teacher of mine about 15-20 years after I graduated. We talked about that period of time and he said ‘What I wouldn’t give for some students like I had in the 60s.” He said that kids in the 80s and 90s never questioned anything. Ever. All they wanted to do was clock their hours and get their grades.

So, with this dumbing down, legal drugs get introduced to the general population directly. Instead of marketing mood altering drugs through psychiatry, the pharmaceutical companies went direct by advertising their wares on television. Then, without batting an eye, or doing their own research(not really knowing how or that it might be appropriate to actually question anything) the North American population began to consume billions of dollars worth of ‘legal’ drugs. Which further dulled awareness and any judgement that anyone would otherwise have.

I occasionally catch some video on Youtube where people are making fun of the uneducated public by asking questions that catch them out. Wonderful. We can all sit around and laugh at another’s expense. Rarely does anyone in this position actually try and point out that maybe it is not this person’s fault but the system in which they were educated.

Back in the 60s we all read ‘Brave New World’ by Aldous Huxley and Orwell’s 1984. We all believed that because of these books that these things would never come to pass.

I guess we too got a bit distracted and forgot to fight the good fight.

If you are reading this, demand that your children learn some basics in school properly. Make sure they know how to research things on their own.

These people need to be disciplined by their own but I don't see that ever happening. The pharmaceutical industry has the desire for money and control. Keeping psychiatrists out 'there' upsetting various Publics and making a mess of things feeds their coffers. So, when I hear of psychiatrists being detained for illegal behavior lessening native based terrorism, well, that is all good for the western world.

My heart goes out to those that lost loved ones in Connecticut yesterday. I cannot imagine what they must be going through. I hope each one of them has someone there to help them. It is easy to blame the gun for the deed. I cannot for the life of me understand how the weapon can get blamed for the violence.

I do not own a gun. BUTd I do not consider guns to be inherently bad as many do. Something like this event can elicit some pretty intense reactions and feelings. Most people are pretty set in their view on whether they ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ guns.

There are a couple of points. One, if someone is raised in a family or environment where violence is a solution to a problem or difficulty in communication then that is what the person will learn. So, if you grow up that way and are confronted with a situation you don’t like, or you don’t like the other person’s view on things, then you may see no problem in hitting the person with a fist, baseball bat or shooting them with a gun! There, problem solved. “It worked for my father, brother, sister, mother or the tough guy down the street or in school – so why not for me.” Add to that, drugs of any sort, legal or illegal and you have a very dangerous mix.

If you do not like guns that is fine. I will not try and persuade you otherwise. That is what makes this country(the US of A) great! One has the freedom to believe what he or she wants. So far anyway.

But please take a step back and look at the broader picture. If you want to get rid of guns that is fine but what if that is not the cause of the these tragedies. There is a lot of evidence to the contrary. To look at just the guns as the cause and ban them and not solve anything would be a tragedy in itself.

Here are some interesting facts about gun ownership and violence in America:

1. Do some research and you will find that the actual percentage of people in the USA owning handguns is smaller than a lot of other countries. The individuals just own more of them. This site gives some interesting facts on guns and gun control in general. If you go down to the section “Allowances” you will see that per the laws in the USA it easier for a convicted criminal to legally aquire a gun than it is for a law abiding citizen. (That is pretty messed up.)

http://www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp

Now, if you are concerned about deaths by violence:

– 195,000 people die per year as a result of medical mistakes.

www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/11856.php

– 100,000 peole die each year from known side effects of prescription drugs.

http://www.alternet.org/story/147318

Compare those stats to the number of homicides from guns:

– And gun homicides per year according to Center for Disease Control(CDC) is: 12,129 (another source says 9,146 – not sure of the year on that one – perhaps 2007.)

And the homicide deaths for the ‘side effects’ of the pharmaceutical drugs do not include (I’m pretty sure anyway) the people killed by those on these drugs. Now there is a lot of talk that the reason that these violent crimes/shooting sprees have increased is due to the increased use of pharmaceutical drugs. The majority, by far, of people doing this crazy sh*t are on or have recently come off some Big Pharma drug or other. And the cases of someone acting this violently without drugs happens but is rare.

If there is an investigation into this area I hope that anyone connected to the medical field or the pharmaceutical industry not be involved in any way in any way. And investigators should not be barred from looking at any documents needed to resolve this.

Many parents do not know their rights when it comes to their children being recommended psychiatric drugs. The medical industry being part of Big Pharma has a lot of muscle to throw around and because most people are not well informed as to their rights when it comes to this area they can be convinced to do something that is not always in the best interests of their child. The video at the end of the article linked below has a few requests that any parent is legally allowed to make. Very sensible requests that could not logically be denied. Even if you are one that does not believe that most of these drugs prescribed by doctors at the behest of Big Pharma will be harmful to your child, one should minimally follow through with the requests laid out in this video! Who knows, maybe your child has an allergy or a brain tumor and an anti-depressant is being prescribed without a proper diagnosis.

Do you believe everything you see in the ads on television or read in the newspaper? Check this out for some information about pharmaceutical drugs and the companies that provide them that you don’t hear:

A friend of mine works construction in LA. He talks to a lot of people – he does like to talk. He told me a story of a woman he met about 3-4 years ago. He had gone to her house to appraise some damage to her chimney I expect and as he is wont to do he spoke with her of many things besides the required work. At one point she told him that she was very upset in life which made it hard to do her job and raise her kids. She was constantly worried about things and couldn’t really pinpoint what it was that she was worried about.

Upon questioning it was discovered that this woman started each day by reading the newspaper and ended each day watching the news on television. This was Los Angeles remember….

He asked her to do something that most people would never even consider: stop reading the newspaper and watching the news for one month. Absolutely no “news” in her life for that amount of time. It took a bit to get her to agree to this but he assured her that the world would not change that much in a few weeks.

She finally agreed and he . He had asked that she call at the end of the month period. She reached him after a week. He was a bit concerned with her calling as he had already spent quite a bit of time calming her down and trying to convince her to stay away from the ‘news’. But he was pleasantly surprised: She told him that she had completely kept away from the newspaper and did not watch the news on TV. The result was that in only one week she felt completely different – she was much calmer and no longer was upset with everything in life. In just those few days she was handling her job better and was actually enjoying life.

This is not the first story of this nature that I’ve heard and I’m sure that there are many more.

So, what does this have to do with psychiatry?

Big Pharma funds the media and obviously will tell them what can be promoted. Do the homework – follow the money. Look at the number of drug advertisements that are in magazines, newspapers and on television. Money like this cannot be turned away by the media.